Last Tuesday, Maine became the 31st state to put same-sex marriage to a public vote — and to have it lose. The Pine Tree State's debate over gay marriage lasted the better part of this year, galvanized thousands of volunteers, and attracted more than $9 million in contributions to both sides. In the end, 53 percent of the 567,593 voters who cast ballots on November 3 voted to repeal the gay-marriage law that the Legislature passed and Governor John Baldacci signed this spring.

Now, gay-marriage supporters (and opponents, too) are contemplating what comes next. There's been talk of "boycotting Maine," and Sid Tripp, of the DownEast Pride Alliance, thinks that Maine's tourism industry will suffer as a result of Tuesday's vote. The opposition has threatened to put forth a constitutional ban on gay marriage, depending on the outcomes of legislative elections in 2010. Some supporters are suggesting going to the courts; others want to re-examine the state's referendum system. But before they make any big moves, gay-marriage backers need to assess what went wrong.

As the No On 1 campaign and its organizational allies do the requisite post-election soul-searching, they're bound to encounter some of the following morning-after memes:

• There will be questions about how well the campaign reached out to voters in northern and rural parts of this large and politically diverse state.

• Some will wonder how effectively No On 1 responded to attacks from the opposition. Sure, the campaign responded quickly (lessons learned from California, check), but did those responses carry the right message?

• Still others will continue to point fingers at the Democratic National Committee and President Barack Obama, who failed to offer the No On 1 campaign sufficient support, financially or logistically (even as they encouraged voters to pay attention to races in New Jersey and Virginia).

• And a few might suggest (as one poster did on the conservative Web site AsMaineGoes.com) that Governor John Baldacci's involvement (as a public speaker at several No On 1 events; as a GOTV robo-caller) put off voters.

But No On 1 political operatives such as Shenna Bellows, of the Maine Civil Liberties Union, and Mary Bonauto, of Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders, want to avoid making any of these claims, at least until they complete what Bonauto calls a "fearless analysis" of the election data.

"We want to try to figure out why we lost," the longtime gay-rights attorney and activist says. "It hurts to lose. That said, people on our side are very happy with our campaign. We stayed on the high road." And most importantly, "I think there is momentum. There is no doubt we are moving forward."

The question is, how?

"Clearly we still have to win over another 30,000 hearts and minds, so the first thing that people can do is enlist friends and family members who are upset and grieving into this effort," Bellows says. In addition to continue public education, the next steps could come in the form of more legislation, a court case, or a citizen-initiative referendum.

The rain in Maine If you're planning a trip to Vacationland this summer, be sure to bring your galoshes — the "gay storm" that's been satirized all over the Internet rolled into Maine last week.

Letters to the Portland Editor: July 10, 2009 A recent EqualityMaine campaign letter claimed that gay marriage is "the fight for our lives." I wonder whose lives they are talking about, when AIDS service organizations and community health/reproductive clinics across the state have been tightening their belts and desperately trying to crunch numbers.

Just the beginning More than a few people asked us why we are publishing this special section now — now that gay-marriage opponents have filed their People's Veto signatures, now that same-sex marriages will not be taking place at least until after Mainers vote on the issue on November 3.

State House status Rhode Island voters, for all their supposed insularity, are an increasingly progressive bunch.

Saying their ‘I don’ts’ In case it slipped by one or two of you out there, Maine is a pretty homogenized state overall, even more so than a carton of Oakhurst or Hood milk.

Continuing homophobia Deirdre Fulton's and Shay Stewart-Bouley's comments and Seth Berner's letter on the Marriage Equality Act repeal are insightful. I would add another perspective.

Granite grind Much of New England joined the march toward marriage equality this year, but in the comparably conservative Granite State, its legalization has heated up a partisan battle for control of the governorship in 2010, promising that this political war isn't quite over.

Marrying into history remember the day Vermont legalized Civil Unions for same-sex couples. I was in college at the time and I remember thinking out loud that I could move there and get "Civil Union-ed" someday. It didn't sound the same as my previous dreams of getting "Married."

Economic scale We want what everyone wants — happiness and the personal freedoms our forefathers lived and died for.

Benign neglect? If you are gay or lesbian, or if you care about realizing social justice, you must be wondering when Obama is going to turn his attention to the fact that one in 10 of the nation's more than 230 million adults are second-class citizens.

ALL THE WORLD'S A STAGE | July 24, 2014 When three theater companies, all within a one-hour drive of Portland, choose to present the same Shakespeare play on overlapping dates, you have to wonder what about that particular show resonates with this particular moment.

CHECKING IN: THE NEW GUARD AND THE WRITER'S HOTEL | July 11, 2014 Former Mainer Shanna McNair started The New Guard, an independent, multi-genre literary review, in order to exalt the writer, no matter if that writer was well-established or just starting out.

NO TAR SANDS | July 10, 2014 “People’s feelings are clear...they don’t want to be known as the tar sands capitol of the United States."